


That Green Gentleman

by nicolespork



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Marijuana, Multi, Recreational Drug Use, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-21
Updated: 2016-04-21
Packaged: 2018-06-03 14:54:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6614959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicolespork/pseuds/nicolespork
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John wasn't expecting much from his first day at a new school. He certainly wasn't expecting a boy in a pair of dark aviators to become interested in him. Against the rantings of a crabby senior class president, he talks to this mysterious boy and gets pulled down a rabbit hole, Alice style. But will John make it through the looking glass, or will his (Jefferson) airplane crash before it can land safely?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Something I've been sitting on for a few years now that I figured I would dust off in light of my rekindled creativity. This might only reach a niche group of people, but I hope you give a chance!

You moved to Washington because your dad got offered a better deal with the company he works for. You guess it hasn’t been so bad this far, but now it’s your first day of school, the week after summer vacation ended, and you’re nervous. It doesn’t help that the argyle sweater your dad insisted on you wearing made you feel uncomfortable. It felt itchy, and made you warm on top of already burning up from nerves. But your dad gave you a lecture about first impressions and shoved the sweater over your head. So now you’re sitting in your dad’s car staring at the brick building that’s going to drain you of your last remaining years of teenagerdom. This was the school you’re going to graduate from in the spring. It looked like a step up from your last school, and you hope things work better here. No one at your old school liked you very much. The pranking might be to blame for that, and your obsession with movies. Hopefully people here have a better sense of humor.

Your dad puts the car in park, letting it sit idly so he can put a reassuring hand on your shoulder.

“Son, have a wonderful first day,” he says and you can hear the pride in his voice.

“I won’t. Look at me! I’m dressed like a loser and everyone’s going to make fun of me. Again.”

He turns to you, brow knit sternly. He’s not about to scold you. He’s never scolded you in the seventeen years of your life. “Listen to me, John. You look like a strapping young man. And if the kids at this school can’t appreciate a well-dressed person, they aren’t the kind of friends you’d want to have anyway. Now go in there and show those kids how great you are. And remember, no matter what, I am so proud of you.”

He pats your cheek gently, and you take that as your cue to go. You grab your backpack off the floor and step onto the sidewalk. You turn around to your dad and he waves before driving away. Suddenly you’re alone, just you and the brick building.

You take a deep breath and situate your bag onto your shoulders as you walk toward the large doors. It was intimidating, and you could see your hand shaking as you pulled the door open. The main office was on your right as you walk in and you pull that door open too. So far, so good. The office is empty except for a woman behind the counter and a boy who looks about your age. Your smile at him is met with a scowl. Maybe the kids here weren’t any better after all. The woman looks at you brightly as you stand at the counter to check in.

“You must be John Egbert!” You’re taken aback by how cheery her voice is.

You nod. She continues, “Well then, let me be the first to welcome you! I’m Ms. Crocker and if you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask.”

She turns away from you and focuses her attention toward the computer in front of her. The printer at the corner of the desk whirs into life, and she grabs the paper it spits out and hands it to you.

“This is a copy for your schedule. Your homeroom is with Mr. English, that’s where you’ll go for the study period,” she gestures to the boy behind you. “Mr. Vantas will be showing you to your classes to get you acquainted with the school. Good luck, John! And have a great day.”

You turn to the boy and see he’s already standing. He’s about half a head shorter than you and has black hair so messy it would put Harry Potter to shame. His jaw looks strong, and it’s paired with a set of sharp eyes. He looks unimpressed with you, and you don’t take offense. You’re thinking that’s just how he is if his greeting to you earlier was any indication.

“Let’s get this show on the road, new guy. Class started ten minutes ago.”

You follow him out into the hallway and he asks to see your schedule. He looks it over emotionlessly and hands it back to you.

“You have history first, with English. Pretty okay class. Guy’s a fucking space case though. I swear half the time he’s somewhere else.”

“Thanks for the warning,” you say and follow him down the hall. His expression has softened since you left the office.

“Where you from?” he asks as he leads you through the cafeteria.

“Oregon. My dad got transferred out here.”

“You like it?”

“Yeah it’s alright. I'm just happy that this seems to be more permanent than the other places we've moved to," you adjust how your bag is situated. The silence that settles feels awkward. You're not good at this kind of thing at all. " So how did you wind up getting the job to show the new kid around, anyway?” You follow him up the stairs, and he stands a little bit straighter. You think he’s trying to make himself taller.

“I’m class president,” he tells you and he says it like he’s praising himself.

“Aren’t you kind of short to be president?” you ask, and you hope he can hear the teasing of your tone. The last thing you need is to offend the first kid you’ve talked to here. But he rolls his eyes and exits the stairs through the door that leads into the second floor.

“There’s no height requirement for presidency, asshole. And besides, you’re one to talk about people’s appearances. That sweater makes you look like a douchebag.”

You can’t help but laugh, and he stops outside of a door that you guess is your first period. This is it then. You’re officially starting your first day.

“I’ll meet you after class to show you to your next one. I’m Karkat, by the way.”

You smile and can’t help but feel like you’ve made a friend. He walks away and you once again open another door. Only this time, the eyes of at least 15 other students look back at you. The teacher notices the attention shift and turns to you, smiling.

“And who might you be, lad?” He questions, you shift your weight from foot to foot, feeling awkward under the stare of so many people.

“I’m John,” you say quietly. Mr. English’s smile only grows wider; the whiteness of his teeth could blind you.

“Of course! You must be the new student. Well, come on in! You’re not going to get any learning done in the hallway.”

You walk further into the room and the door closes behind you. The classroom is fairly small, the desks are arranged in four rows, and you stare back at the faces of your classmates.

“Go ahead and take a seat, John,” your teacher encourages, and you pick the open seat in the back of the first row. Mr. English rummages through some of the papers on his desk and hands you the syllabus. “This goes over what we’ll be learning in the class, as well as what you’ll need as far as materials go. I trust you have a notebook?” You nod. “Excellent! Take notes from what’s written on the board. And try to keep up, John. History moves pretty fast.”

You’re in class for about ten minutes before the door opens again. This time, a blonde boy wearing sunglasses walks in. He’s tall, and his skinny figure is covered by a hemp hoodie. Mr. English looks at him, and you can see the impatience in his face from your seat.

“Nice of you to join us, Mr. Strider.”

He shrugs and there’s a twitch of a smirk, but otherwise his face remains unmoving. “I was in the neighborhood. Figured I’d stop in, find out how the wife and kids were doing. You get a hair cut, English?” There’s no inflection in his voice, and you can hear the nonchalance that drips off each word. The students around you giggle, and your teacher just sighs.

“Take your seat, Strider. And please try to be on time tomorrow.”

He waves his hand in a lazy salute before he walks down the isle and takes the seat in the row next to you. He turns his head toward you and you’re certain you can feel his eyes on you, he raises a thin eyebrow at you and you can see the muscles of his mouth trying to hold back smiling. You’re not really sure what there would be to smile at, or maybe he just finds your clothing ridiculous. You chastise yourself for not packing a change of clothes like you wanted to.

He turns away from you and you never get a chance to talk to him and find out what his deal was because he’s out of the room right as the bell goes off. You’ve never seen anyone move that fast, you’re not even sure you saw him leave his desk. As promised, Karkat is waiting outside the door for you. It turns out you both have the same second period art class, which you’re thankful for because that’ll make everything less awkward. It’s all the way on the first floor, and across the hall you see the wooden body of a grand piano. You’re pretty decent at piano, and you’ve always enjoyed the calming feeling you get when you play. Seeing it makes you a little disappointed you don’t have a music class this semester, but maybe you could talk to the music teacher anyway and play after school.

Karkat sits at a table, and you take the stool next to him. He’s telling you about the teacher, filling you in on the projects you’ll have to work on for the class. Giving you the whole first day of school talk as if he were the teacher. The teacher comes to greet you, and she seems nice enough, if not just a little strange. Once she walks away you turn to Karkat. If anyone could tell you who that boy was, Karkat could. You just had to know what that guy’s deal was. It was starting to really bug you.

“Hey, Karkat? Could you tell me about a blonde kid with sunglasses?”

Karkat’s eyes widen, and you feel like you’ve made a mistake. He’s silent for a few minutes, and other students start filing in. He leans in to you, and when he speaks it’s with a serious tone that almost scares you.

“Trust me, John. You don’t want anything to do with him. Sure, he looks cool and all that, but it’s all just a front. He’s…an arrogant prick, and that’s just putting it nicely. He thinks he can get away with anything and that he’s held to a different standard than other people. But he’s nothing special. And he’s really bad news.”

“Jeez, did he kick your dog or something? I just wanted to know his name. He came in late to my first class, so I never heard what it was, and he left before I could ask. He kind of…freaked me out, to be honest.”

Karkat sighs, “his name is Dave. And no, he didn’t kick my dog. He and I used to be friends up until sophomore year, when I started seeing through his bullshit. We kind of…went in different directions. Seriously John, if you hang out with him you’re going to get lumped with him and his little posse and you don’t want that at all. It’ll only end badly.”

You don’t have time to ask him what makes him hate Dave so bad because the late bell rings and class starts, and you don’t bring it back up again. So you chatted with him about nothing in particular as you both drew. Your laugh sounds extra loud as it rings in your ears. It was nice having a friend.


	2. Chapter 2

You have study hall next, which you're a little disheartened Karkat doesn't have with you. You spend most of the time talking to Mr. English. He’s exactly like Karkat described, but he’s also pretty nice and he’s taken an interest in you, even telling you some of his stories of traveling. Your next class is science, and you got paired up with a girl with short black hair. She talks quietly to you and more elegantly than most kids your age. She seems nice, and apparently is a friend of Karkat’s since you saw them talking before class started.

When science was over you and Karkat and the girl, you found out her name was Kanaya, walked down the cafeteria together. You join them in the lunch line and grab your tray. They wait for you to pay before showing you to their table, where a blonde girl sits. She smiles at you, and Kanaya sits next to her immediately. She gets introduced as Rose. Another girl with black hair joins you guys, and she pulls you into a tight hug upon introduction. Karkat snaps at her, and she giggles as she releases you and tells you her name is Jade. They ask to see your schedule, and you find out that you have health class with Jade, and English with Rose. While you eat you look around the cafeteria at all the different groups of people in soundless chatter. You’ve always liked observing, never really having a group of friends of your own to engage with. Now that you do, a warm feeling passes through you as your eyes scan the room.

The warm feeling turns cold when you meet a pair of dark lenses in one of the corner tables of the cafeteria. You think you’ve made eye contact with him, and you feel uneasy. His table consists of two girls and two other boys. One of his arms is around the shoulders of one of the girls, who is leaning across the table to the other girl and the two boys are sharing Cheetos and they offer the bag to Dave, but he pushes it back to them. You swallow and avert eyes. You’re certain you see a smirk on his lips.

“You okay, John? You seemed to space out for a minute there,” Rose says. She’s giving you a look, and you’re not really sure how to feel about it except that maybe she’s trying to read your mind. Or maybe she already has.

“Yeah… I’m fine. I felt like someone was watching me.”

“Oh? And did it turn out you were right?”

“I think so. I couldn’t really tell.”

“Why not?”

She knows. She has to know whom you’re talking about, and now the others are listening, concerned. You swallow, and you feel your face get hot.

“Well, they were…wearing sunglasses.”

Karkat groans, Jade giggles, Kanaya looks at Rose, and Rose gives you a small smile. She folds her hands under her chin and you can’t help but feel like she’s analyzing you.

“Ah, yes. The elusive Dave Strider. It sounds as if he’s taken an interest in you. He’s not really one for staring at people. Is this your first interaction with him?”

“No, not really. I mean we have history together, but he came in late and he looked at me then too. But we haven’t talked or anything.”

Rose nodded, her smile widens and you’re scared. You’re not sure why, but you feel very scared.

“He’s not going to make the first move. Of course in his mind, he already has. I think at this point he’s waiting for you to crack under the pressure, so to speak.”

Karkat speaks before you do, and there’s anger in his tone that you haven’t heard him use all day, despite the harshness of his normal speaking voice.

“No. John, I told you. Strider is not someone you want to even have a conversation with. I’m actually pretty sure it’s impossible for him to converse on an intellectual level. You don’t, under any circumstance, want to be roped into his group of slackers. They’re all just a bunch of losers with no direction in life.”

“Karkat, you used to be friends with Dave,” Kanaya pointed out with a frown. Karkat rolled his eyes. 

“That’s not the point, Kanaya. I grew up. He’s still the same child he’s always been. Skating by on the bare minimum, putting in absolutely zero fucking effort into anything that’s not his shitty music. Let’s just drop it, okay? Do whatever you want, John, I don’t give a shit. But if you end up getting arrested don’t come crying to me.”

Jade broke the tension by pinching Karkat’s cheek. He swatted her hands away and you stand from your seat to throw the tray out. As you walk to the garbage can you feel eyes on you, and sure enough when you look over at Dave’s table you catch a glimpse of dark lenses. You turned back to look at the table your friends are sitting at and see them all engaged in their own conversations. You decide to just cave in, if Dave wants you to talk to him, you may as well because obviously he’s not going to. You’re not really sure the logic that’s involved in that line of thinking. It’s probably some kind of weird reverse psychology.

As you walk over you see the corners of Dave’s mouth twitch upward, and the heads of his friends turn toward you. You feel more nervous now than you had all day, and that includes this morning. You stand at the head of their table, and they look at you expectantly. You can’t see Dave’s eyes, but if the look on his face is any indication, you think he’s feeling pretty smug.

“Uh, hey,” you say when you approach the head of the table. Dave turns his chair to you and puts his feet up on the table. If you were your dad you would have cringed at the poor hygiene.

“Hey,” he responds in the same lazy tone he used on the teacher. It sounds almost like he’s bored. You’re not sure if that should offend you or not.

“So…what’s up?” You’ve never been good at small talk, never had anyone to really small talk with. It feels almost as if he's amused by all this. You hadn’t realized you did anything funny.

“Oh, you know. Same old, same old.”

“Yeah…” This was going nowhere fast. He wasn’t going to bring up his own behavior and you just had to know why he kept looking at you. It would be a lot easier without his friends around, though. You feel their eyes on you too.

“So, new kid what brings you by this neck of the woods? Mr. President send you over here to do some kind of foreign exchange policy?” His friends snicker, and you snort a little too.

“No. I was just kind of wondering why it seems whenever I feel like I’m being watched, it’s always coming from your direction.”

The girl sitting next to him chuckles. You raise an eyebrow, and his smirk broadens into a grin.

“What’s your name, ambassador?” he asks, and he sounds more amused than before. You look back over at where Karkat sits and see all of them watching you. Karkat looks pissed, Rose looks entertained.

“John. John Egbert.”

“Well, John Egbert, I’d introduce myself but I’m sure Mr. President already bestowed that honor onto himself. Probably ranted about me, yeah?”

“A bit.”

Dave shook his head, “so predictable. Anyway I supposed you should meet my merry men,” he starts with the girl next to him. “This is Terezi. She’s pretty much the brains of the operation.” The girl across from her is introduced as Vriska, the boy next to her is Gamzee, and the last boy is Tavros. You say hi to them all, but don’t have time to do much else before Karkat comes stomping over to you.

Dave’s expression becomes amused, just for a second. Karkat glares at you, you can only smile sheepishly.

“Hello, El Presidante. If I had heard you were going to be in town, I would have made sure to clean the place up a bit.” Dave’s sarcasm makes Karkat roll his eyes and the others laugh. You bite back your grin.

“Once again your astounding wit does nothing to amuse me. C’mon on John, come mingle among sane people.”

“Jeez, Karkat. You didn’t always used to be a huge stick in the mud. What happened?”

“I did a thing called growing the fuck up. Unlike you, some of us don’t want to mooch off our guardians for the rest of our lives. Some of us have goals.” 

“You talk as if I don’t.”

“Your kind doesn’t, Strider. And I’m not going to stand idly by and watch you convert another unsuspecting soul into your web of absolute fucking garbage.”

“Wow, Vantas, that was an incredibly moving speech. No wonder you’re president. The academy will be in touch with you and the Oscar should be in the mail shortly.”

“They don’t send Oscars to you in the mail,” Karkat retorts. He’s about to say something else when the lunch bell rings and everyone around you stands.

“We’ll talk to you later, Argyle,” Terezi says to you.

“My name’s John,” you correct.

“I know,” she smiles as the group turns and walks away. Karkat scowls and sulks off. When you get back to your original table, Jade is there holding your back pack.

“Shall we?” She chirps happily and you nod while slipping your bag onto your shoulder and let her lead you to class. It’s then you decide to ask someone what happened between Dave and Karkat the next chance you get.

==>

Unfortunately you don’t get any chances in your last two classes. Jade hardly let you get a word in (which you didn’t mind, you like her stories) and your English teacher talked the whole period, leaving you with no time for conversation with Rose.

The final bell rings, and you lose Rose in the crowd of bodies leaving the building. Defeated, you join them. There’s always tomorrow at least. Terezi passes you in the hall, and she waves good-bye to you with a smile. You wave back and see her disappear through a side door by the gym. The walk home is pleasant. You had a week to get used to the two-block walk and you use the time to think about all that happened today. You think you made friends, if Terezi’s wave was anything to go by, and you know you made friends with Karkat. It feels great. For the first time in a very long time, you’re looking forward to school tomorrow.


End file.
